Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow
It’s been a while since we’ve lived in a cold weather place,
nine years to be exact…and in Washington, DC, no less. Same place, same
weather.
At first, I was a little cautious about telling the kids about snow. There may be, may be snow while we live here, I told them, although I didn’t introduce the expression to them yet about ‘holding your breath’.
I remember witnessing my first snowfall in Germany after spending my childhood in California. I would read and watch Peanuts and pray for snow in San Diego. As we all know by now, San Diegans are still holding their breath. That red oak tree in our yard will pull itself out of the ground and start dancing a waltz before there’s such a thing as snow in San Diego. Which is why the first snowfall was even more magical once it did arrive in Germany. You wake up, look out the window, and everything is white.
When we first moved to Arlington less than three months ago, the
neighbors waved off any possibility of a snowfall. Since ‘snowmageddon’ there
hadn’t been any snow, and they were already beginning to wonder what to do with
the kids’ sleds and the snow shovels gathering rust in the basement. I guess we
were just what the doctor ordered.
Since we’ve moved here, we’ve had four snowfalls already, including the eight inch darling white
blanket thrown on us a few weeks ago, plus the two incher from last night. Not
bad at all. That’s a full winter we’ve spent here now.At first, I was a little cautious about telling the kids about snow. There may be, may be snow while we live here, I told them, although I didn’t introduce the expression to them yet about ‘holding your breath’.
I remember witnessing my first snowfall in Germany after spending my childhood in California. I would read and watch Peanuts and pray for snow in San Diego. As we all know by now, San Diegans are still holding their breath. That red oak tree in our yard will pull itself out of the ground and start dancing a waltz before there’s such a thing as snow in San Diego. Which is why the first snowfall was even more magical once it did arrive in Germany. You wake up, look out the window, and everything is white.
And here are my own kids, same thing. They get up in the
morning, run downstairs, Liebi casually mentions there is snow out there, and
the kids immediately want to run outside, the single digit temperatures be
damned. Their first roll in the snow is a short one once they realize that snow
is pretty cold, and not the warm and
fuzzy bubble bath they’d expected it to be. Axl by now doesn’t care about snow
any more than he does about State of the Union speeches, only that it means no
school or at least less of it on any given day.
The temperatures, meanwhile, are miserable. Last week we
averaged 15 degrees Fahrenheit during the
day. Those are fifteen good reasons to bury the car keys and stay inside
for a while.
Of course, our sponsor in Tanzania just wrote that it never
gets below 75 degrees at any time in Dar es Salaam, day or night. I still haven’t decided what I prefer more, too much
cold or too much heat. With the cold, you can at least put on layers to protect
yourself. If it gets too hot—and I’ve witnessed 120-130 degree days—it’s not
possible to remove a layer of skin, especially if it’s a third world country
and air conditioning is just as common there as polar bears or penguins.
The kids have quickly learned what the cold weather entails
for them, besides the time off they get from school: less time outside,
navigating over icy sidewalks, bundling themselves up against the wind, etc.
It will be interesting to see what happens once we cross
over from frigid temperatures to the thick of summer within a few days. We’re stocking up on warm weather clothing, and
people at the clothing stores around here give us these sideway looks as if we’d
just grown another leg.
For now, we’ll just ride the storm out…all right, so DC won't let us go that easily. Fine with us. Happy my kids were able to see the snow.
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